Newsom says Biden, Clinton, and Harris were too insulated; urges Democrats to get out of their bubble

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Gov. Gavin Newsom believes it’s time for fellow Democrats to get out of their comfort zone.

The California governor has made a point of doing just that — but critics question whether he is breaking out of the party’s echo chamber or building a new national brand.

In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, Newsom said former President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Vice President Kamala Harris became too insulated from people who disagreed with them. Democrats, he argued, need to stop avoiding hostile audiences and engage voters beyond their traditional base.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) speaks in front of North Carolina voters on Sept. 5, 2026. (Barnini Chakraborty/Washington Examiner)

Newsom has increasingly embraced that approach himself, appearing on conservative media, debating Republicans, and traveling through deep-red parts of the South.

But his outreach has intensified as he builds a national profile and considers his future after leaving the California governor’s office. His repeated trips to South Carolina — officially the first state in the Democratic presidential primary calendar — have heightened speculation about a 2028 White House bid.

That makes Newsom’s message both a critique of his party and an implicit argument for why he should represent its next chapter.

‘Divorce is not an option’

Newsom said Democrats cannot afford to retreat from audiences that may be hostile to them.

“Divorce is not an option,” he said, invoking former President Bill Clinton. “We’ve got to live together across our differences.”

He acknowledged why politicians might avoid hostile environments. In the social media era, lengthy conversations can be reduced to a single viral clip.

“I understand the inclination not to do it because there is a gotcha,” Newsom said. “We’re all prone to the clip that can travel a million miles and the gotcha.”

Long-form interviews, he argued, give voters a fuller picture of the person behind political talking points.

“That tension starts to dissipate a little bit,” Newsom said, “and it starts to reveal the character of the person speaking in the context of the audience.”

He said Democrats made a mistake by not doing more of it.

Newsom has increasingly put that philosophy into practice. He has appeared on Fox News and, more recently, held lengthy conversations with conservative personalities such as the late Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon.

“I think it’s now table stakes for candidates,” Newsom said.

A new Newsom or a new strategy?

Newsom is hardly the first Democrat to venture into conservative media. His 2023 debate with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity, put him in a conservative media environment while he was a prominent Biden surrogate. Newsom gave Biden an “A” when asked to grade the president.

That history complicates his current criticism of Democratic leaders who, he says, became too insulated.

“Newsom didn’t pioneer crossover appeals by politicians,” Stacey E. Wright, a California-based political pundit, told the Washington Examiner. “Don’t rewrite history and pretend this has always been Newsom’s playbook.”

The difference, Wright said, is the deliberate way Newsom has incorporated encounters with conservatives into his public persona.

“Newsom now deliberately inserts himself into conservative spheres, welcomes hostile questions, and provides Democrats what he imagines they’ve lost touch on,” Wright said.

Matt Klink, a California-based political expert, said Newsom clearly knows how to engage conservatives. The question, he said, is whether he is genuinely listening or simply demonstrating that he can win an argument.

“Talking to the other side may earn a participation trophy in Democrat and left-wing media circles, but changing his guest list does not change his left-wing governing record,” Klink told the Washington Examiner.

Klink also questioned Newsom’s emerging role as a critic of Democratic leadership.

“The hypocrisy is selling the product enthusiastically, then presenting yourself as the independent critic who can explain what went wrong,” Klink said.

Wright said the two motivations are not mutually exclusive.

“It can be both conviction and positioning,” she said. “In positioning himself to elevate his national standing heading into 2028, the subtext of his actions is clear: I can stand up and fight in the devil’s den. That’s branding. It’s also strategy.”

Showing up is not the same as governing

Another test is what happens after the cameras are turned off.

Jeff Burton, founding partner at Maven Advocacy and a former deputy executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, gives Newsom credit for entering hostile territory.

But Burton distinguishes between debating Republicans on national television and actually working with Republicans in government.

“If his argument is that Democrats became trapped in their own political bubble, California is actually a pretty good case study of how that can happen,” Burton told the Washington Examiner.

“It’s always seemed like he has put more energy into reaching Republicans on the national stage than building bipartisan coalitions here at home,” he said.

Dave Spencer, cohost of Practically Political, said Newsom is identifying a real problem for Democrats, particularly those who operate in overwhelmingly Democratic states.

“Democrats are culturally out of step with a large part of the country, so I think Newsom has a point,” Spencer said.

But Spencer told the Washington Examiner that Newsom’s own record complicates the message. Newsom has been governor for nearly eight years and has not consistently positioned himself as someone willing to challenge his own party on every issue where he might have done so.

Casey Hernandez, a partner at Seven Letter, said the problem is not unique to Democrats. Politicians, donors, consultants, activists, and media organizations can all develop ecosystems in which they repeatedly hear from people who share their assumptions.

“If you only talk to the people and platforms that you’re comfortable or familiar with, you’re cutting yourself off from huge swaths of the public,” Hernandez said.

But engaging with opposing views does not require accepting them.

“Engaging with opposing points of view doesn’t mean accepting them,” Hernandez said. “But there’s value, for both parties, in listening and understanding and in challenging those views when you disagree.”

The South and the 2028 question

Newsom has spent increasing amounts of time in the South, including communities where Democrats have struggled to compete, and has repeatedly returned to South Carolina.

The state’s early position on the 2028 calendar adds significance to those visits.

During his latest South Carolina swing, Newsom received supportive receptions at some stops but encountered protesters in Dorchester carrying signs including “wrong coast,” “don’t California my South Carolina,” “go home Gavin,” and “clean up your state first.”

The contrast illustrates the challenge Newsom has chosen to confront: entering places where California’s political brand can be a liability.

He has not responded by distancing himself from California. Instead, he has defended the state’s record while arguing that Democrats should be willing to make their case to voters who may reject it.

Newsom is not arguing that Democrats need to abandon their beliefs, but that talking primarily to people who already agree with them is not enough.

But the timing makes the strategy impossible to separate entirely from his own political future.

Klink sees the strategy primarily through that lens.

EXCLUSIVE – NEWSOM’S HARD TRUTH FOR DEMOCRATS: ‘IT’S OUR PERFORMANCE’

“This effort by Gavin Newsom is 100% a presidential rebrand,” Klink said.

Newsom’s latest swing through the South and his interview with the Washington Examiner show he is willing to show up.

Now, his critics say, the question is what he does with what he hears.

Share this article:

Facebook

Twitter